Ditch digging and tunneling machines having a vertically reciprocating cutting head



March 31, J. A. THORNBURGH ETAL DITCH DIGGING AND TUNNELING MACHINES HAVING A VERTICALLY RECIPROCATING CUTTING HEAD Filed June 10, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS JOHN A. THORNBURGH JOSEPH M. HOBELMAN Z THEIR AGENT March 31, 1959 J. A. THORNBURGH ETAL 2,879,980

DITCH DIGGING AND TUNNELING MACHINES HAVING A VERTICALLY RECIPROCATING CUTTING HEAD Filed June 10, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 aim ang '78 2 INVENTORS .m (JOHN A.THORNBURGH AW JOSEPH M. HOBEL MAN THEIR AGENT March 1, 1 'J. A. THORNBURGH ETAL 2,879,980

DITCH DIGGING AND TUNNELING MACHINES HAVING A VERTICALLY RECIPROCATING CUTTING HEAD Filed June 10, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS 'J OHN A. THORNB URG H JOSEPH M. HOBELMAN WWW YHEIR AGENT March 31, 1959 J. THORNBURGH ETAL 2,

' DITCH DIGGING AND TUNNELING MACHINES HAVING Y A VERTICALLY 'RECIPROCATING CUTTING HEAD Filed June 10, 1955 i 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 MENZ INVENTORS J u OHNA. THORNBURGH BY JOSEPHMHOBELMAN.

DITCH DIGGING AND TUNNELING MACHINES HAVING A vERTIcALLr RECIPROCATING CUT- TING HEAD 'Jo hn A. .Thornburghand Joseph M. Hohehnan,

Wicl1 ita Falls, Tex.

Application June 1 10, 1955, S No. 514,679 =1. Cl s (Cl. zen- This invention relates to improvements in ditch diggingand tunneling machines, and more particularlydo a ditch digging land 'tunneling maehine ,whereby an eperatorlcan move the machine fromplace to placegandican individually complete th'edigging .and tunneling of. the ditch or tunnel withounassis'tance.

,Var ious ditch digging and tunneling machines have been proposed heretofore, .but these. for the most part, were very large and cumbersome and were usually mounted on a large wheeled or crawler type conveyance and requiredpowerful primemovers to drive them. 4

"However, in the present instance the ditch digging and tunnelinglmachine has been designed so that a relatively small motor orengine can be utilized for driving the mechanism of the ditching and tunneling machine.

The presentmachine'is designed primarily for digging shallow ditches and would generally be used by plumbers and the like for digging gasand water line ditches and for tunneling under sidewalks'or under building founda tions.

'Thepresentdeviceis provided with,a conveyor for directing thedir t upward and outwardt'o a point above and toone side of the ditch, so as to leaveja clean-cut opening in the .earth"for the. layingof pipe lines drthe m... r

.An object of this invention isto provide a ditch digging and tunneling machine which is 'selfrcontained, which maybe easily moved from place to place, and which will readily open a ditch in the,earths terrain.

,Another object of .this invention is to provide'a ditch digging and tunneling machinewhich has a vertically reciprocating cutting head. i i

'Still. another object of this invention is to providea ditch diggingand tunneling machine wherein the bite of the cutting head maybe varied for diflerent formations I A further object of this invention is to provide a ditch digginga'ndf tunneling machine which will automatically movefor wardas the cutterproceeds.

fWith these objects idfmind and others which will manifest themselves asthe description proceeds, reference is to behad to theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference .characte'rsdesignate like parts in the" several views thereof, in which:

iFig..l is a sectional elevational view taken through a ditch, showingthe ditch diggingmachine in place therein, with. partsbroken j away "and shortened to illustrate the details of constrnction; i

Fig. 2 is {a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2 2 ofFig.j3;"'

Fig. 3 is a, sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of EigLfL' looking direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectionahview taken on the line 53a, 1, loo n he r tip nd e by. t Fig.5 is a yertieal, seetionalg view taken gon the line o'f Fig. l'j look ing" i the'idirection" iiidicatedlby the United States Patent 1 2,879,980 s' ie iMer- .1959

ice

. 2' Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6 6 'of Fig; 1, looking in the direction indicatedl'by the arrows; Fig. 7 is a sectional viewtaken onthe'line'1+7' of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated'by the arrows;

' Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken 'on'the-line 8-",8fof

Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 9 is a front elevational view of the cutter head; Fig. 10 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detailed view of the lower portion of one of the cutter head blades;

' Fig. 11 is an elevational sectional view'showing a portion of a ditch and showing the linkages 'of the cutter head in various positions and showing diagrammatically, a motion study of the movement of the cutter "elements;

Figs. 12, 13, 14 and 15 Show dinerem po'sition sl'of the eccentric cutting head; and

Fig. 16 is a fragmentary view taken on the line 16-16 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated bythea'rrows.

With more detailed reference tothe"drawiiig, the numetal 1 designates generallylhe frame'structure'ofthe ditching and tunneling machine,'upon'which a motor, generally designated by the numeral 2, is slidably mounted. A conveyor, generally designated by then'umeral 3, is attached to the rear end of frame 1 and extends" upwardly, directly behind the motor v2. The upper enc'f'of the conveyor 3 has an outwardly extending ichii te 94 connected thereto for diverting the cuttings outward to a side of the conveyor. A ditch digging and tunneling head, generally designated at 4, is mounted on i-th'fbtward end of frame 1. 'q M The cutter head i is pivotally mounted'at 6 and 8 to pairs of arms 10 and 12, respectively. The arms 'lll are adjustably bolted to 'fexte'nsionarrns 14 by lineans of bolts 16, which enablesthe varying of the adjustment of the top of the cutiirig bars 18 with respect to the lower ends of the cutting bars. The extension arms 14 extend upward and are pivoted'on a commonpivdt'inernber20, which pivot member 20 is mounted on upright frame portion 22, whichup'ri'ght frame portion is secured to the forward end of frame 1. The other end'of'the arms 12 extend rearward and fit around the respective eccentrics 24 on shaft 26, which eccentrics 24, upon rotation of the shaft 26, provide lateral swinging movement'to the cutter head 4. l

A pair of arms 28 is mounted at the lowerends thereof on the respective eccentrics 2'4, whicharms extend'upwardly and'have their upper ends pivotally mounted on pivot pin 30 on arms 14, as will best be seen in FigL l.'

The engine 2 has'the base 32 thereof seated on intnrned angle flange members 34, as will best be seen in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Theinturned flange members 342m slotted, as indicated in Fig. 2. none 36 pass through the enginebase 32 and'through the slots withinj' the'inturned angle flange members 34 and are normally free fitting to permit limited longitudinal movement ofthe engine 2 on the inturned,' angl'efi'ange members 34. A lever 38 is pivotally connected to the conveyor box 92, which lever has a rod or linkage 40 pivotally connected thereto and extending downward to connect to one side of a bell crank 42, which bell crank is pivotally connected to frame member 1. A rod 44 connects to the other side'of bell crank 42 and to a lug extending outward-from the rear side of the base of engine 2.

By manual manipulation of the .lever'38, the engine may be moved backward and forward on the angle flange members to tighten or loosen belt 46 Whichsurr'otirids V-belt pulley 48 on the shaft of engine 2 and V-belt pulley 50 on the lowerend of zmm ar s'haft;52. The worm gear shaft 52 passes into worm gear" housing 54 and has a worm 56 ther eon. in mesh with worm gear 58. The worm gear58 is secured to the shaft 26, as will best b'e'seen inFigsJ '4 and 1. The shaft '26"extends fla tcrally outward on each' side ofgear housingslandis journaled therein, as indicated at 60. It is preferable to have eccentrics 24 keyed to shaft 26 by keys 62, to enable the removal of the eccentrics for the disassembly of the gear unit. The eccentrics 24 are retained in place by means of cap screws 64 and 66 being screw-threaded into the respective ends of the shaft 26. The cap screw 66 also retains a drive sprocket 68 in place, which sprocket drives through chain 70 to a drive sprocket 72 which is journaled on an idler shaft 74. A spur gear 76 is secured to sprocket 72, which spur gear is in complementary mesh with spur gear 78 which is fixedly secured to shaft 80 at the forward end of frame member 1. A pair of sprockets 82 is provided, each of which is fixedly secured to shaft 80 intermediate upright frame members 84, and which sprockets are spaced apart so as to receive pairs of conveyor chains 86 thereon. A pair of sprockets 87 is journaled at the upper end of conveyor box 92 to receive the upper ends of the conveyor chains 86 thereover.

Scraper elements 88 abridge between and are secured to the chains 86, so when the chains are moved, the lower reach thereof will cause the scraper element 88 to drag along the bottom of the ditch being formed and will drag file dirt being excavated into the boot 90 and thence upward along the bottom of the conveyor box 92, to be discharged out through chute 94 to the side of the ditch being dug.

A pair of wheels 96 is journaled on axle 97, which axle is at the rear of frame member 1. The axle 97 is mounted in brackets 98 having slots 99 therein, which brackets are adjustably secured to the rear end frame member 1, so as to enable the wheels 96 to be raised or lowered, and to be adjustably secured in place by means of cap screws 100 which pass through slots 99. A pair of handles 102 is provided intermediate the length of the conveyor box 92, so as to enable the pivoting of the ditch digger about wheels 96 to make possible the mving of the machine from place to place.

The conveyor box 92 is secured to the rear end of frame 1 and projects upwardly and rearwardly, at an angle, so as to direct the earth being removed from the ditch upward by the conveyor and out through chute 94.

The engine cover 108 is provided and is pivotally mounted at its forward end to the engine, and has a spring and rod connection 104 and 106 at the rear end, which spring and rod connection extends to a lug 110 on conveyor box 92, so as to hold tension on the cover 108 to maintain this cover in place. 7 The cutter head 4 comprises a series of vertical bars 18 which have cutter teeth 112 on the upper and lower ends and the forward edge. These teeth are somewhat similar to saw teeth in form, with a pointed end on the .upper side of the teeth on the forward side of the cutter bar, with the upper end of the cutter bar 18 having pointed teeth with the points of the teeth toward the rear of the cutter bar. It is preferable that these cutter teeth 112 have a set so as to cut a kerf within the soil during the reciprocation of the cutter head 4. A second set of cutter teeth or blades 114 and 116 are welded, or otherwise secured transversely of the rear side of the cutter bars 18 as will best be seen in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. The blades 116, which cut on the forward face of the earth in the ditch being cut, have sharp upper edges, so on the up motion, the tooth will scrape along the face and direct the cuttings therefrom downward into a de fiector shield 118, thence the loosened earth drops to the bottom of the ditch, whereupon kicker element 120, .which is secured to the lower end of the cutter head 4, kicks the loosened earth rearward through the lower open end 122 of deflector shield 118 within reach of scraper elements .88, as will best be seen in Fig. 3.

Operation ,With the engine 2 running, the clutch lever 38 is moved so as to move the engine 2 rearward along the: inturned engine running in counterclockwise direction, viewed from the lower side, V-belt'pulley 48, on engine 2, will drive through V-belt 46 to turn pulley 50 and worm shaft 52 so as to drive worm gear 58 in a clockwise direction. as viewed in Fig. 3, to which worm gear 58 the shaft 26 is secured by means of pin 27. A sprocket 68 is mounted on an end of the shaft 26 and drives through a chain 70 to a second sprocket 72 which is on an idler shaft 74. The gear 76 is secured to and drives integral with sprocket 72, which gear 76 is in mesh with a second gear 78 which is mounted on an end of shaft 80, which shaft has a pair of sprockets 82 secured thereto and spaced apart so as to receive conveyor chains 86 therearound so that the scraper elements 88 will abridge therebetween, and with the shaft 26 driving in clockwise direction, it will drive through spur gears 76 and 78 to drive the conveyor shaft 80 and conveyor chains 86 on sprockets 82 in a counterclockwise direction.

With the machine running, as set out above, the ditch digging and tunneling machine may be utilized to start a ditch on level ground, by raising the rear end of the" machine by means of handles 102, so that the lower ends of the cutting bars 18 will start digging into the ground' and with the eccentrics 24 rotating in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 3, 12, 13, 14 and 15, the arms, 28 will move the cutting bars up, from a position as indicated in dot-dash outline in Fig. 3, to the full line position shown therein, while the teeth 112 are in con-' tact with the face of the earth being cut and as the teeth move substantially to their maximum height of travel, the eccentric 24 will move the teeth out'of con-j tact with the face of the opening being cut. This will continue until the proper depth of the ditch to be cut is attained, whereupon, the machine is leveled out, by manual manipulation of handles 102, substantially as' indicated in Fig. 1.

As the cutting proceeds, the earth that is loosened drops downward to the bottom of the ditch behind the cutter head 4. Whereupon, a transverse bar 120, attached to the lower end of cutting head 4, acts as 'a kicker element to kick the dirt rearward through opening 122 withinshield 118. At the same time the conveyor chains are running in the direction as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, whereupon, the earth is dragged by the scraper elements 88, along the bottom of the ditch and, onto boot and upward along conveyor box 92 to be discharged out of the upper end of the conveyor box onto a chute 94 which may be positioned on either side of the conveyor box, so as to make possible the directing of the loosened earth to a selected Side of the ditch.

The conveyor chain serves the dual purpose of acting as a crawler type tread to propel the ditch digging and tunneling machine along the bottom of the ditch, so as to keep the cutter head in contact relation with the face of the ditch being cut. Reference is to be had to Fig. 11, in which itis to be noted, that on the down movement of the cutter bars 18, the cutter blades have a tendency to move rearward a considerable amount, particularly in the lower portion of the ditch, then with the cutter blades engaging the face of the ditch being cut, and with the conveyor chain 86 and scraper elements 88 urging the machine forward, as well as a steadying hand by the operator maintaining a forward thrust on the machine, the blades cut upward, which will hold the base of the machine in firm contact with the bed of the ditch.

It is to be pointed out that, by manipulation of the adjustment arms 10, with respect to the arms 14, these arms may be lengthened or shortened with respect to the arms 12, and thus vary the cutting pattern, as shown in Fig. 11.

With the eccentrics 24 rotating in the sequence, as ii,-

.lustratedin Figs. 12 to 15,. inclusive, it will be noted gara e upon with the bars 114 and 116 shaving off the inner face, as the ditch.digging-andtunneling machine progresses forward.

i It will be appreciated that thejdefle'ctor shield 118 is slightly lower 'thani'the makimnmfieight of i-{t'rayel of the'cutter' bars 118, and the bar 116 is provided at the top, as will best be seen in Fig. 9. This enables the ditches to be projected under sidewalks, building foundations and the like, in the form of a tunnel, since the engine 2 is of less height and width than the ditch being cut. In tunneling, the teeth 112 on the upper end of bars 18, together with the transverse cutter bar 116 maintain the top of the tunnel in smooth condition.

A machine of this character was not feasible until the advent of high strength, light weight alloy materials, and light weight, self-contained internal combustion engines, which engines are more adaptable to such use than electric motors for general utility work, as electric power is not always available, however, it is to be understood that an electric or air motor used on the present machine will be within the scope of the inventive intent of the power unit for the present machine.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a portable earth ditch digging and tunneling machine, a frame, power means mounted on said frame, an elongated, upright cutter head having longitudinal rows of teeth thereon, which cutter head is mounted on said frame for reciprocation of said elongated rows of teeth in an upright plane, linkage means pivotally connected to said cutter head, gearing means interconnecting said linkage means and said power means for reciprocation of said cutter head, further linkage means interconnecting said cutter head and said frame, so upon operation of said elongated cutter head by said power means, the upper portion of said cutter head will move outward on the upward movement thereof and the lower portion of said cutter head will move outward on the downward movement thereof, and conveyor means for moving loosened earth away from said cutter head.

2. The machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said linkage means moves said cutter head so that the cutting action of said teeth is greater on the up-stroke than on the down-stroke.

3. The machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said linkage means moves at least a portion of said cutting head into cutting engagement with the earth face being acted upon both on the up-stroke and on the down-stroke thereof.

4. In a portable earth ditch digging and tunneling machine, a frame, power means mounted on said frame, an elongated, toothed, upright cutter head, linkage means connected to said cutter head and to said frame, gearing means connected to said power means in driving relation, eccentric reciprocation producing means connected in driven relation to said gearing means, further linkage means connected to said cutter head and to said reciprocation producing means to alternately move the lower end of said cutter head and the upper end thereof into engagement with the earth face being acted upon, and means for moving the loosened earth away from said cutter head.

5. In a ditch digging and tunneling machine, a frame,

power means mounted on said frame, ;at{ least .9 p vota ne ated an a tire ax E' m'. i. t hi ai' 'ntektends"forwardly ofgsaid' frame, -a cutter h'ead pivota l jatta'ghe fi th -inwar sp i t f s lating movement substantially in an upright position, a haf i urnaled 9 sa fra a lea bi Le mounted on; saidlsh aftjfor rotation therewith, at least one s econd a a end of which. is interconnected in ant/ingention w th said eam,'w hi ch second armisjpivotally connected to s aid cutterhead'and being in-a plane alspace'd distance lbelow s aidfirst mentionediarm, at least one further arnrpivotally mounted to said first mentioned arm and conneeted in pivoted relation with said seco'nd mentioned. and synchronously movablewith saidfirst rand stfecqggnd a rm s, fand I gearing means interconnecting said P we movement to said cutter head.

6. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein, one pair of said arms is pivotally mounted on said fixed axis on said frame, a second pair of arms is connected in driving relation to two of said cams on said shaft and having the respective forward ends of said pair of arms connected to said cutter head.

7. The device as set out in claim 5, wherein, said further arm is pivotally connected to said first mentioned arm at one end and at the other end of said further arm it is connected in driving relation with said cam to which said second mentioned arm is connected, so upon rotation of said cam an oscillatory movement will be imparted to said arms.

8. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein; at least one of said arms is adjustable in length.

9. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein; said cutter head has cutter teeth mounted thereon, which teeth are so arranged that the travel of at least some of said cutting teeth is in an elliptical path, with the teeth being in contact cutting relation with the earth surface being acted upon during a portion of the upward travel thereof, and part of the travel of said cutting teeth being out of contact relation with the earth being acted upon.

10. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein; said cam moves a portion of said cutter head forward on the up stroke to cause engagement of the lowermost cutter teth of said cutter head with the surface being acted upon, and whereupon said cam moves the lowermost portion of said cutter head rearward on the down stroke to cause disengagement of the teeth on the lowermost portion thereof.

11. A cutter head for a ditch digging and tunneling machine, as set forth in claim 5, wherein; the cutter teeth are formed on vertical bars with ground engaging points substantially in the form of modified saw teeth, alternate points of said teeth being transversely spaced.

12. The device as set forth in claim 11, wherein; transverse cutter bars are positioned on the rear side of the vertical cutter bars and having an edge on the forward side of said transverse bars.

13. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein said cutter head has a transverse bar attached to the lower and rear side thereof a spaced distance rearward thereof.

14. The device as set forth in claim 5, wherein; an endless conveyor is mounted on said frame horizontally thereof with one reach of said endless conveyor being on the underside thereof, which conveyor has a scraper element positioned transversely thereof to receive dirt discharged by said cutter head and to urge said cutter head into contact relation with the face of said earth being acted upon.

15. The device as set forth in claim 14, wherein; the lower reach of said endless conveyor travels in a direction opposite the direction of travel of the ditch digging and tunneling machine, and wherein said transverse scraper elements are in contact relation with the bottom of the ditch or tunnel being formed so as to provide propulsion L t an sai shaf b .imea t e 'e ei lat a T power-for said ditch digging and tunneling machine when said conveyor is moving. 4 f 16. In a ditch digging and tunneling machine, a frame, power means mounted on said frame, a pair of arms, the

8 respectively to said firstmentioned pair of arms at a. point intermediate the ends thereof, and gearing means interconnecting .said power means and said shaft forimparting oscillating movement to said arms and said cutter ends of which are pivotally mounted, on a common axis, 5 head.

to said frame and extending forward thereof, a cutter head pivotally attached to the forward ends of said arms for oscillating movement substantially in an upright position, a shaft journaled on said frame, a pair of cams mounted on said shaft, a second pair of arms, each having 10 an end interconnected in driving relation with said re spective cams which arms are in a transverse plane a spaced distance helow said firstmentioned pair of arms being pivotally connected to said cutter head,a third pair of-arms. each of which has an end connected'in driving relation with one of said cams, each of said third pair of arms having the other end thereof pivotally connected References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

